North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ginda Fisher" <list@ginda.us>]

One warning re peat: it is very slow to wet. So if you are mixing it into 
your soil make sure to do this well before planting the blueberries. A week 
prior is good.

I have somewhat acid soil and wild blueberries, so when my pH meter didn't 
work I figured my pH was okay. My blueberries were very slow to establish, 
but did MUCH better the year after I extended the grass-free strip around 
them. Originally it was only to their expected mature drip line. Now I've 
mulched over another 18 inches or more of grass, and they are much happier, 
with more growth and more berries.

I mulch every fall with shredded oak leaves. This is as much to get rid of 
the leaves on my suburban lawn as anything else, but the blueberries seem 
very happy with it. I shred the leaves by using the lawnmower to collect 
them, so I suppose there's a little shreded grass in there, too.

-- GindaOn Apr 1, 2011 8:13 AM, John S <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com> wrote:

Others here will surely offer better advice but... 



My early efforts with blueberries many years ago ignored the pH requirement 
and resulted in failure.  Now I enjoy success, just by following the 
simple practice of adding 1-2" of quality peat moss as a mulch to my 
blueberries plants each spring, which naturally lowers the pH.  I have 
also played around with starting blueberry seed and found that the plants do 
well on a mix of just peat and sand for years.  A quality fertilizer 
speeds growth and fruit production.



Prepare your beds by mixing in a generous amount of peat before planting and 
add some peat to the surface each year.  They should do well for you 
just by doing that.  I would not worry about fertilizing until fruit 
production begins.







--- On Fri, 4/1/11, Anne Seymour <aseymour@tpg.com.au> wrote:



From: Anne Seymour <aseymour@tpg.com.au>

Subject: [NAFEX] Blueberries and ph

To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Date: Friday, April 1, 2011, 3:48 AM



Hi



My teenage son has developed a love of growing things we can eat such as 
watermelon, sweet potatoes, bilberries, etc.  We are now about to buy 
about 15 blueberry trees (probably misty, legacy and magnolia) and wanted to 
ask people's thoughts about ph.  I know they love an acid soil 
around4.5-5.5 but I did hear that some people on this list had the opinion 
that they could grow in higher ph soils if they had lots of compost in the 
soil.  I will be planting them in two beds one of which is ph6 and one 
ph7.  There are a few azaleas and camellias happily growing in those 
beds now.  I have heard contradictory things about blueberry 
requirements.  Some times I read they like sandy, nutrient poor soil and 
at other places I have read they love lots of organic material/compost.  



I have a couple of compost bins which have only ever had fruit and vegetable 
scraps thrown in and the bins' ph is 9 so way too high for the blueberries.



The soil in the beds has been undisturbed for at least 30 years since we 
moved in.  



I am wondering if I should put in my compost in spite of the high ph in the 
hopes that it will provide lots of organic matter and nutrients and that the 
soil will 'buffer' if back to a lower ph relatively quickly.  



On the other hand perhaps I should keep the compost out as it will just 
increase the ph and make my blueberries either die or produce no fruit.  
Possibly I could add lots of dried leaves to lower the compost ph and just 
use it later as a mulch.  



On the 'third hand' I had read the comment I mentioned earlier that they can 
grow, and fruit well, in higher ph soils if there is lots of compost.  
Presumably this means the iron and other nutrients are high enough because of 
the compost to counteract the high ph.



I like to do everything 'organically' without additives or chemicals.  I 
have read that I could just put sulphur, or sulphate of iron or flowers of 
iron or iron chelate (no idea what is the differences between these)  
into the soil but I was desperately hoping I could avoid any of these and 
just use my soil and compost.



I would really appreciate any advice.



Thanks



Anne





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